Amarillo orthodontist must forfeit $1.5M

An Amarillo orthodontist must forfeit $1.56 million he fraudulently gleaned from the Texas Medicaid program by billing for dental work he never performed, an Amarillo judge has ruled.

In a preliminary order issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson said the government presented “credible evidence” Michael David Goodwin, owner of Goodwin Orthodontics, 3629 Wolflin Ave., reaped $1.56 million in ill-gotten gains between 2008 and 2011.

Goodwin, 63, pleaded guilty in December to one count of health care fraud. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced. Under the plea, Goodwin agreed not to challenge the forfeiture.

Prosecutors allege Goodwin frequently billed for work he never performed and scheduled up to 100 patients daily. Employees and patients likened the scheme to “herding cattle,” court documents show.

A phone message Tuesday at Goodwin Orthodontics said the office was temporarily closed.

In late May and early July, authorities seized $244,235.67 from five JP Morgan Chase commercial and personal bank accounts associated with Goodwin, his wife and his business.

An FBI agent said in an earlier affidavit that Goodwin billed Medicaid for about $11.7 million from March 2008 to March 2011, triggering payouts totaling about $7.5 million.

About 95 percent of Goodwin Orthodontics’ patients were Medicaid recipients, the affidavit said.

In 2009, the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Texas Attorney General’s Office received information that Goodwin billed the government for work done by dental assistants — who worked on patients “at Goodwin’s direction and without his direct supervision while Goodwin was out of town, away from the office or even while present in the office,” an FBI agent said in an affidavit.

The FBI affidavit also said Goodwin flew from Texas to Indiana almost every month, billing Medicaid for patient services in Amarillo on dates when flight records showed he was in Indiana.

“A comparison of the airline records and the claims data corroborated the initial allegation of service being provided while Goodwin was out of town,” the affidavit said. “He misrepresented to Medicaid that he himself provided the services or was there to supervise them.”